Aquileia

A former city of
the Roman Empire, situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is
now the Austrian sea-coast, in the country of Goerz, at the
confluence of the Anse an the Torre. It was for many centuries the
seat of a famous Western patriarchate, and as such plays and
important part in ecclesiastical history, particularly in that of
the Holy See and Northern Italy.

The site is now
known as Aglar, a village of 1500 inhabitants. The city arose (180
B.C.) on the narrow strip between the mountains and the lagoons,
during the Illyrian wars, as a means of checking the advance of that
warlike people. Its commerce grew rapidly, and when Marcus Aurelius
made it (168) the principal fortress of the empire against the
barbarians of the North and East, it rose to the acme of its
greatness and soon had a population of 100,000. It was pillaged in
238 by the Emperor Maximinus, and it was so utterly destroyed in 452
by Attila, that it was afterwards hard to recognize its original
site. The Roman inhabitants, together with those of smaller towns in
the neighbourhood, fled to the lagoons, and so laid the foundations
of the city of Venice. Aquileia arose again, but much diminished,
and was once more destroyed (590) by the Lombards; after which it
came under the Dukes of Friuli, was again a city of the Empire under
Charlemagne, and in the eleventh century became a feudal possesion
of its patriarch, whose temporal authority, however, was constantly
disputed and assailed by the territorial nobility.

Ecclesiastical
History

Ancient
tradition asserts that the see was founded by St. Mark, sent thither
by St. Peter, previous to his mission to Alexandria. St. Hermagoras
is said to have been its first bishop and to have died a martyr's
death (c. 70). At the end of the third century (285) another martyr,
St. Helarus (or Hilarius) was bishop of Aquileia. In the course of
the fourth century the city was the chief ecclesiastical centre for
the region about the head of the Adriatic, afterwards known as
Venetia and Istria. In 381, St. Valerian appears as metropolitan of
the churches in this territory; his synod of that year, held against
the Arians, was attended by 32 (or 24) bishops. In time part of
Western Illyria, and to the north, Noricum and Rhaetia, came under
the jurisdiction of Aquileia. Roman cities like Verona, Trent, Pola,
Belluno, Feltre, Vicenza, Treviso, Padua, were among its suffragans
in the fifth and sixth centuries. As metropolitans of such an
extensive territory, and representatives of Roman civilization among
the Ostrogoths and Lombards, the bishops of Aquileia sought and
obtained from their barbarian masters the honorific title of
patriarch, personal, however, as yet to each titular of the see.
This title aided to promote and at the same time to justify the
strong tendency towards independence that was quite manifest in its
relations with Rome, a trait which it shared with its less fortunate
rival, Ravenna, that never obtained the patriarchial dignity. It was
only after a long conflict that the popes recognized the title thus
assumed by the metropolitans of Aquileia. Owing to the acquiescence
of Pope Vigilius in the condemnation of the "Three Chapters",
in the Fifth General Council at Constantinople (553) the bishops of
Northern Italy (Liguria and Aemilia) and among among them those of
the Venetia and Istria, broke off communion with Rome, under the
leadership of Macedonius of Aquileia (535-556). In the next decade
the Lombards overran all Northern Italy, and the patriarch of
Aquileia was obliged to fly, with the treasures of his church, to
the little island of Grado, near Trieste, a last remnant of the
imperial possessions in Northern Italy. This political change did
not affect the relations of the patriarchate with the Apostolic See;
its bishops, whether in Lombard or imperial territory, stubbornly
refused all invitations to a reconciliation. Various efforts of the
popes at Rome and the exarchs at Ravenna, both peaceful and
otherwise, met with persistent refusal to renew the bonds of unity
until the election of Candidian (606 or 607) as Metropolitan of
Aquileia (in Grado). Weary of fifty years' schism, those of his
suffragans whose sees lay within the empire joined him in submission
to the Apostolic See; his suffragans among the Lombards persisted in
their schism. They went further, and established in Aquileia itself
a patriarchate of their own, so that henceforth there were two
little patriarchates in Northern Italy, Aquileia in Grado and
Old-Aquileia. Gradually the schism lost its vigour, and by 700 it
was entirely spent; in the synod held that year at Old-Aquileia it
was formally closed. It was probably during the seventh century that
the popes recognized in the metropolitans of Grado the title of
Patriarch of Aquileia, in order to offset its assumption by the
metropolitans of Old-Aquileia. In succeeding centuries in continued
in use by both, but had no longer any practical significance. The
Patriarchs of Old-Aquileia lived henceforth, first at Cormons, and
from the eighth to the thirteenth century at Friuli (Forum Julii).
In the later part of the eighth century the creation of a new
metropolitan see at Salzburg added to the humiliation of
Old-Aquileia, which claimed as its own the territory of Carinthia,
but was obliged to acquiesce in the arbitration of Charlemagne, by
which Ursus of Aquileia (d. 811) was obliged to relinquish to Arno
of Salzburg the Carinthian territory north of the Drave. German
feudal influence was henceforth more and more tangible in the
ecclesiastical affairs of Old-Aquileia. In 1011 one of its
patriarchs, John IV, surrounded by thirty bishops, consecrated the
new Cathedral of Bamberg. Its influential patriarch, Poppo, or
Wolfgang (1019-42) consecrated his own cathedral at Aquileia, 13
July 1031, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. in 1047, the
Patriarch Eberhard, a German, assisted at the Roman synod of that
year, in which it was declared that Aquileia was inferior in honour
only to Rome, Ravenna, and Milan. Nevertheless, Aquileia lost
gradually to other metropolitans several of its suffragans, and when
the Patriarchate of Grado was at last transferred (1451) from that
insignificant place to proud and powerful Venice, the prestige of
Old-Aquileia could not but suffer notably. In the meantime, during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Patriarchs of Aquileia
had greatly favoured as a residence Udine, an imperial donation, in
Venetian territory. In 1348 Aquileia was destroyed by an earthquake,
and its patriarchs were henceforth, to all intents and purposes,
Metropolitans of Udine. Since the transfer of the patriarchical
residence to Udine the Venetians had never lived in peace with the
patriarchate, of whose imperial favour and tendencies they were
jealous. When the patriarch Louis of Teck (1412-39) compromised
himself in a war between Hungary and Venice, the latter seized on
all the lands donated to the patriarchate by the German Empire. The
loss of his ancient temporal estate was acquiesced in a little later
(1445) by the succeeding patriarch, in return for an annual salary
of 5,000 ducats allowed him from the Venetian treasury. Henceforth
only Venetians were allowed to hold the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Under the famous Domenigo Grimani (Cardinal since 1497) Austrian
Friuli was added to the territory of the patriarchate whose
jurisdiction thus extended over some Austrian dioceses.

Extinction of the
Patriarchate

The 109th and
last Patriarch of Aquileia was Daniel Dolfin (Delfino), coadjutor
since 1714 of his predecessor, Dionigio Dolfin, his successor since
1734, and Cardinal since 1747. The Venetian claim to the nomination
of the Patriarch of Aquileia had been met by a counter-claim on the
part of Austria since the end of the fifteenth century when, as
mentioned above, Austrian dioceses came to be included within the
jurisdiction of the patriarchate. Finally, Benedict XIV was chosen
as arbiter. He awarded (1748-49) to the Patriarchate of Udine the
Venetian territory in Friuli, and for the Austrian possessions he
created a vicarate Apostolic with residence at Goerz independent of
the Patriarch of Aquileia, and immediately dependent on the Holy
See, in whose name all jurisdiction was exercised. This decision was
not satisfactory to Venice, and in 1751 the Pope divided the
patriarchate into two archdioceses; one at Udine, with Venetian
Friuli for its territory, the other at Goerz, with jurisdiction over
Austrian Friuli. Of the ancient patriarchate, once so proud and
influential, there remained but the parish church of Acquileia. It
was made immediately subject to the Apostolic See and to its rector
was granted the right of using episcopal insignia seven times in the
year.